whatthe?
Well-Known Member
If you only used a penny, the cost should only be $0.01. Are you counting labor?:redneck:
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Help Support Hardline Crawlers :
My new tow rig...
- Thread starter hlb3
- Start date
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
Took some Christmas money and ordered myself a PHP Hydra chip. Its going to be nice to have some nice towing tunes.
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
Got the chip today. I ordered it from Alligator Performance over in Coeur d'Alene, got free shipping and I got it overnight, can't beat that!
Took a little longer to install than I figured it would. There was a lot of extra wiring in the way of the PCM plug from all the extra fancy crap that was added to the truck by Fontaine, so it took me about 3 times longer to unhook the PCM than it should have.
The Hydra is a pretty sweet unit. It holds 17 tunes (15 customizable slots) and being able to load all the tunes yourself is pretty sweet, plus it was only $375 which is less than some of the 6 position ones. You just look up your PCM code and the software downloads the tunes from PHP. Its got a nice digital controller, I just Velcro'd it by the steering column next to my exhaust brake switch.
Took the truck for a drive and the tunes are impressive. I can definitely tell the difference in quality of good tunes vs. the canned TS tunes I ran in my OBS. The OBS had good power but the EGTs were always high (even on the lower power tunes) and the tranny shifted weird when you were on the throttle. The PHP tunes are spot on, the power is awesome, the EGTs arent excessive (even on the stupid power tunes) and the tranny shifts way better.
I wasn't having much issues with power towing the 5th wheel before, but it should be fun to see what it is like now. It liked to search for gears a bit on long grades before, from what I read from people running the PHP towing tunes, I should see a good improvement in the shifting.
Took a little longer to install than I figured it would. There was a lot of extra wiring in the way of the PCM plug from all the extra fancy crap that was added to the truck by Fontaine, so it took me about 3 times longer to unhook the PCM than it should have.
The Hydra is a pretty sweet unit. It holds 17 tunes (15 customizable slots) and being able to load all the tunes yourself is pretty sweet, plus it was only $375 which is less than some of the 6 position ones. You just look up your PCM code and the software downloads the tunes from PHP. Its got a nice digital controller, I just Velcro'd it by the steering column next to my exhaust brake switch.
Took the truck for a drive and the tunes are impressive. I can definitely tell the difference in quality of good tunes vs. the canned TS tunes I ran in my OBS. The OBS had good power but the EGTs were always high (even on the lower power tunes) and the tranny shifted weird when you were on the throttle. The PHP tunes are spot on, the power is awesome, the EGTs arent excessive (even on the stupid power tunes) and the tranny shifts way better.
I wasn't having much issues with power towing the 5th wheel before, but it should be fun to see what it is like now. It liked to search for gears a bit on long grades before, from what I read from people running the PHP towing tunes, I should see a good improvement in the shifting.
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zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
Nice! Yer about ready for a North End Snow Run!
:awesomework:
:awesomework:
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
I was tired of not being able to listen to music off my phone, so I finally ditched the crappy stock stereo. I really wanted a double din unit, but to get something decent with a detachable face was way too much. I ended up picking up a Pioneer DEH-X8600BS. It's got auxiliary and USB inputs and has built in Bluetooth, so it will do everything I need.
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Sandtrap1986
Well-Known Member
Did you Reflash your computer? I have heard after running canned tunes they can leave crap behind I haven't installed my hydra because of that fact....planned on taking to the stealer ship just haven't got around to it
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
This truck has never had a chip installed on it so I didn't have to worry about that, I was comparing it to my old tow rig.
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
I'm very impressed with the chip. I drove the truck empty about 600 miles using the 65hp daily driver, I got 1.1 MPG higher than my previous best mileage. Can't beat more power and better mileage.
Got to give the towing tunes a good test today also. My uncle just bought a 37' 5th Wheel over in Prosser last week, his POS 6.0L blew a head gasket so he hasn't been able to go get it. The people's property is right on the river and the river is starting to flood, so he had to get it out of there, so I got to make an unplanned 500 mile trip east of the mountains today.
The towing tunes are pretty amazing, the programming for the transmission is so much better than stock. The shift points a set higher so it keeps the boost up and it stays in the powerband better when pulling hills. The engine braking when coming off of hills seems to be improved also.
Got to give the towing tunes a good test today also. My uncle just bought a 37' 5th Wheel over in Prosser last week, his POS 6.0L blew a head gasket so he hasn't been able to go get it. The people's property is right on the river and the river is starting to flood, so he had to get it out of there, so I got to make an unplanned 500 mile trip east of the mountains today.
The towing tunes are pretty amazing, the programming for the transmission is so much better than stock. The shift points a set higher so it keeps the boost up and it stays in the powerband better when pulling hills. The engine braking when coming off of hills seems to be improved also.
Toyota_corey
Well-Known Member
CarnationSensation
Well-Known Member
PHP writes some great tunes. I never had issues with my EGT's towing up to 15K. I was very impressed.
I just installed some 175/80's, ARP's and valve springs a few weeks ago. The 7.3 moves good now! Im running Powerstruck tunes now and they are also good tunes. Haven't got a chance to tow with them quite yet.
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
The only time my EGTs started getting a little high was pulling some of the longer hills east of the mountains, but we were cruising about 65mph and bucking a head wind. My uncle's trailer is about 3k heavier than my trailer, so I doubt I'll have any issues.
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
The factory mud flaps were cracked and falling apart. I ended up losing about 3/4 of one of the flaps somewhere during my trip to Eastern Washington and back last Saturday.
Since the truck has a custom bed, I couldn't just buy normal Super Duty flaps. Most of the universal dually flaps I found were on 20" wide and the old ones were just under 22". I ended up just buying a set of big rig 24" flaps, which actually worked really well. These are about an inch and a half longer than the old ones, so that should help keep crud off the 5th Wheel.
They look a little plain, I might need to go to the truck stop and find some chrome necked ladies to throw on there, lol.
Since the truck has a custom bed, I couldn't just buy normal Super Duty flaps. Most of the universal dually flaps I found were on 20" wide and the old ones were just under 22". I ended up just buying a set of big rig 24" flaps, which actually worked really well. These are about an inch and a half longer than the old ones, so that should help keep crud off the 5th Wheel.
They look a little plain, I might need to go to the truck stop and find some chrome necked ladies to throw on there, lol.
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hlb3
Zombie Hunter
zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
You still have the old truck? Are you selling it? Know someone looking for a truck...
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
Yeah, my parent's bought it back when I bought the 550. They were going to take it to Texas and buy a camper, but now they decided they want a 5th wheel toy hauler so they went out an bought a 2015 F350.
I'm not sure what they are planning to do with it now, I'll see if they want to sell it.
I'm not sure what they are planning to do with it now, I'll see if they want to sell it.
zukkev
Cornfuzzled yet again...
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
Sent you a PM Kev. :awesomework:
hlb3
Zombie Hunter
My fan belt was looking a little ragged so I decided it wouldn't hurt to change it. It took like 5 min on my OBS so I figured it would be a piece of cake, nope....
For some idiot reason, Ford routed the upper radiator hose through the fan belt on the Super Duty's, which means you have to remove the hose to change the belt. I figure since I have to pull the hose, I might as well replace it with the correct hose so I don't have this problem in the future.
Since I'm doing that, I figured I might as well swap out the thermostat as well. Got the 203* and billet housing from Dieselsite.
I've been planning on adding a coolant filter setup as well, so since I'll have it all apart, I figured I might as well get that done too. I ended up going DIY on that, only set me back about $70 to everything, which isn't too bad.
Decided to switch the coolant over to Delo ELC, so no more SCA's to worry about!
So basically a $40 belt change is turned into like a $350 project, which seems about right for me. :redneck:
For some idiot reason, Ford routed the upper radiator hose through the fan belt on the Super Duty's, which means you have to remove the hose to change the belt. I figure since I have to pull the hose, I might as well replace it with the correct hose so I don't have this problem in the future.
Since I'm doing that, I figured I might as well swap out the thermostat as well. Got the 203* and billet housing from Dieselsite.
I've been planning on adding a coolant filter setup as well, so since I'll have it all apart, I figured I might as well get that done too. I ended up going DIY on that, only set me back about $70 to everything, which isn't too bad.
Decided to switch the coolant over to Delo ELC, so no more SCA's to worry about!
So basically a $40 belt change is turned into like a $350 project, which seems about right for me. :redneck:
id you check to make sure the water pump bearings are good and tight? :redneck:
